It was in his thirteenth year that young Cowperwood entered into his first business venture.

Walking along Front Street one day, a street of importing and wholesale establishments, he saw an auctioneer's flag hanging out before a wholesale grocery and from the interior came the auctioneer's voice: "What am I bid for this exceptional lot of Java coffee, twenty-two bags all told, which is now selling in the market for seven dollars and thirty-two cents a bag wholesale?
What am I bid?
What am I bid?
The whole lot must go as one.

What am I bid ?" "Eighteen dollars," suggested a trader standing near the door, more to start the bidding than anything else.

Frank paused.
"Twenty-two!" called another.
"Thirty!" a third.

"Thirty-five!" a fourth, and so up to seventy-five, less than half of what it was worth.
"I'm bid seventy-five! I'm bid seventy-five!" called the auctioneer, loudly.